Ivy Theater Grows New Ideas
Give a stage to three college grads who have a shared passion for voicing change, mix in a little New York City vibe, and you get the Ivy Theater. Headed up by Audrey Alford, Gwenevere Sisco, and Katie Braden, the production company is dedicated to dynamic storytelling, exploring the human condition in a visceral way in order to provoke thought and challenge to both the artist and the audience.
“Our work climbs inside, up and over the walls that have confined and silenced the voices of the few and the oppressed,” say Alford.
Actors are often told to pay their dues and take whatever roles are available. For a young woman in performing arts, that typically means playing the girlfriend who is skinny yet voluptuous in a uniquely beautiful kind of way, with natural beauty and model looks, or as Alford says, “Prostitute number four”. Still, she says, there are good plays out there, awesome stories waiting to be told, and told in a new way.
“We are desperate to hear from the underrepresented voices, and give them a stage on which to make themselves heard,” says Alford. “We want to help them to ignite that flame of inspiration that we came to this city for in the first place.”
To do that, the women hope to shift the conversation away from the heteronormative, patriarchal storyline. This includes the lesbian community getting more involved in performing arts, says Alford, because the majority of LGBT story lines out there are still largely gay male stories.
Recent hits for the Ivy include Donkey Punch, a provocative story about Kareena, a sexually adventurous lawyer trying out monogamy for the first time, and her best friend Sam, who is a self proclaimed prude and documentarian dating a porn director. The production was so well received that the play was brought Off Broadway to the SoHo Playhouse, and was also named a Time Out New York Critic’s Pick.
Also well received was Incongruence: a {trans} Gender Looking Glass by Carla Pridgen.
“Carla interviewed a number of trans individuals as well as their family and friends, changed some names, conflated some stories, and ended up with this amazing piece that takes you through the entire trans umbrella,” says Alford. “I learned so much I can’t even tell you.”